Alabama Great Southern Railroad - 1940's dated Railway Stock Certificate

1940’s, Alabama. Preferred 10 Shares. Portion of stub remains. Neatly hole cancelled. Very Attractive Condition. Scarce.

The Alabama Great Southern Railroad (AGS) (reporting mark AGS) operates in the U.S. states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee and is a subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS). The AGS runs southwest from Chattanooga, Tennessee, where it connects with the Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Texas Pacific Railway, to New Orleans, Louisiana, passing through Birmingham, Alabama, and Meridian, Mississippi. The railroad also holds approximately a 30% stake in the Meridian Speedway, which is controlled by the Kansas City Southern Railway and stretches from Meridian to Shreveport, Louisiana.

The AGS's origins trace back to the Wills Valley Railroad, chartered by the Alabama Legislature in February 1852, to connect a point on the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad northeast to the Georgia state line. Subsequently, in early 1854, the legislatures of Georgia and Tennessee authorized the railroad's extension to connect with the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. Another predecessor, the North East and South West Alabama Railroad, was chartered in Alabama in December 1853 and Mississippi in February 1854 to extend from Meridian through Livingston, Eutaw, Tuscaloosa, and Elyton (now Birmingham) towards Knoxville, Tennessee. Both railroads were awarded land grants by a federal law in June 1856. In January 1858, Alabama assigned these grants to the North East and South West Alabama Railroad, stretching from Mississippi to near Gadsden, Alabama, and to the Wills Valley Railroad, running from near Gadsden to the Georgia state line.